Danny Willett admitted winning his first Dubai Desert Classic felt “extra special” as he had to make one last pressure-packed putt on the 72nd hole of the tournament to edge ahead of his rivals.

Willett made no mistake in sending the 15-feet effort into the centre of the cup and while heaving a sigh of relief on securing his fourth European Tour title, the 28-year-old Briton said there was no better way to win a golf tournament.

“It is the best way to win. You’d love to win by five or six every time you win, but when you win in that fashion, it does feel that little bit extra special. When the pressure is on, being able to produce the goods is special, I guess,” said Willett.

“It’s obviously a relatively daunting last hole. We needed to make a four or a five to win. So just delighted with how I dug in and obviously found it.

“I am just ecstatic. What it’s like coming down the back nine, or the back three, in contention of a golf tournament, you really can’t buy that feeling. You’ve got to earn it.”

Willett had finished second to Rory McIlroy in the Race to Dubai last year after a battle that stretched into the last round of the season. This win, in a field that featured McIlroy, will help him go for another tilt at the title held by the world No. 2, that of being the European No. 1 player for winning the Race to Dubai.

“I think any year where you can be in and around the top-10 all year and give yourself a chance come the Final Series to win the Order of Merit, is brilliant,” added Willett. “It’s still early days to talk about the Race to Dubai. But yeah, we’ve certainly put ourselves nicely up there to fight for the top again.

“I think once you get that feel of how it was last year and how it felt to be in and around it that whole week in Dubai and how it felt to not pull it off…yeah, it would be good.”